6/20/2014

Public Cafeteria "Seiyo Food" In Metropolitan Government Building東京都庁のカフェテリア「西洋フード」(Japanese follows. / 日本語は以下へ続く。)I happened to know that the cafeterias in Metropolitan Government Building are open to the public as the observatories are.As it's an office building for Tokyo Governor and civil employees, the cafeterias are only open on weekdays and close pretty early.So, I went one of the cafeterias called "Seiyo Food" as soon as they opened.Seiyo Food is on the 32nd floor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government 1st Building.

I wasn't sure how to get to the 32nd floor as when you go to the observatory, you need to get your belongings checked and take a direct elevator.When I entered the building, I saw a security guard so I asked him how to get to the cafeteria.He said I could either take elevator A or H, each is located opposite (south and north).This is in the elevator.

Leaving the elevator, I saw a list of "Today's Menu" on the wall.

There're food samples.

This bento box is called "Tocho Bento."Tocho means Tokyo Metropolitan Government in Japanese, and as it's got the name of the building, I decided to get this one.

On the other side of the samples, there're 3-4 ticket machines.First you need to buy a ticket and bring it to the indicated section to order the food.

This is the ticket for Tocho Bento (590 yen), and the section I had to go was "C."

It was my first time to visit there and I didn't know what to do, and I asked an employee what time they start serving, she angrily responded to me, "We don't open till 11:15 AM!"It's not a restaurant, but I was pretty surprised and a bit offended.At 11:15 sharp, a male employee shouted, "We're open now" and each counter started taking the food tickets.I gave the ticket and took out a tray underneath the counter.And I grabbed chopsticks and paper napkins, then received miso soup and Tocho Bento.They measured the rice using a rice bowl, not a scale.

This is Tocho Bento.

The very right section had a mini hamburg with broccoli, and spaghetti salad.The hamburg and the broccoli were cold, but with ketchup sauce, it didn't taste that meaty or greasy.Spaghetti salad was also cold and seemed it's using oil or very light mayonnaise sauce.

The rice was warm.It's called "Takikomi Gohan" which is seasoned rice with soy sauce and vegetables and meat or fish.It contained carrots, mushrooms, coil springs and bamboo shoots.It's seasoned lightly so I could taste the vegetables.

On the right top, there're rolled egg with fish mince, Japanese spanish mackerel, and spinach.2 slices of rolled egg were holding a slice of fish minced and steamed.The egg tasted like the ones served at school lunch as they're soft and sweet.Japanese spanish mackerel was pickled in sake so that it's soft and flavorful when it's grilled.Spinach salad, it's spinach with ground sesame.It's a common Japanese side dish I think.

On the left top, there're pickled cucumbers, a pork cutlet and a Karaage (fried chicken) over shredded cabbage.

Karaage was thigh meat, and it's covered with sweet and sour runny sauce.

I didnt't know that it's a pork cutlet and I thought it's a croquette, so it's a bit of surprise.

Both fries were cold, so it's not freshly fried.Pickled cucumbers were just ordinary ones.There're seasoning set on tables; soy sauce, cutlet sauce, a mixture of red pepper, black pepper, and a jar of toothpicks.

Tocho Bento was basically a prepared bento box which they put warm rice and serve hot miso soup on orders.There're various menus to choose from, so some dishes could be served warm, like curry rice as they put warm rice and hot curry sauce over it.Tocho Bento was only 590 yen and I thought it's very cheap for the volume.You could enjoy some views especially when it's clear sunny.It's a little bit dull today so that Tokyo Skytree wasn't clear, but I could still see Roppongi Hills and Sompo Japan Buidling.

2 件のコメント
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I read about this before from Time Out Tokyo but have not yet got the chance to go as it's only open on weekdays! I tried the cafeteria at Aoyama University before (it's open for public too) and it has the same atmosphere with this, but this has better view of course.

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Taking photos is one of my hobbies. I've taken tons of photos of food and tried new plates I was interested in. Thanks to my friends' idea, I started this blog. It's like my footsteps of my food journey.